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Lyman will be showing everything from reloading tools and presses to the latest in handgun accessories at booth #335.
Lyman® Products will be exhibiting everything for the concealed carry customer at the National Rifle Association’s Carry Guard Expo in Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 14 – 16, 2018 at booth #335. The three-day event is host to over 120 seminars and workshops. Open to the public and to NRA members at a discounted entrance fee, the event is the second one produced by the NRA specifically for the self-defense, concealed carry customer. The seminars and workshops feature a range of offerings from handloading, firearms basics, less-lethal, legal and women’s interests. Some seminars and workshops are free, and some will require an entry fee.
“With gun ownership on the rise and more states passing concealed carry legislation, we find more first-time gun owners becoming interested in other aspects of the shooting sports, including reloading,” Trevor Mullen, VP of Global Business Development, said. “The added value of the NRA Carry Guard Expo is not only meeting these new customers, but also being able to sell directly to them during the show.”
Lyman, known for their reloading and ballistic expertise, will be exhibiting their three new presses and press kits, case cleaning and prep equipment, scales, dies and much more, including their library of reliable and informative reloading data books. Lyman’s Pachmayr® brand of grips and enhancers, featuring the Lyman proprietary Decelerator® recoil-reducing material, will also be on display. The revolutionary new Guardian Grip™ will also be available for Ruger® LCR and S&W J Frame revolvers.
“Lyman Products carries everything a new shooter would need to get started in the sport from grips to shooting bags,” Mullen continued. “And we carry additional firearms accessories and reloading products so a new shooter can continue to grow in his or her sport and rely on Lyman to back them up with over 140 years of shooting sports knowledge.”
About Lyman® Products:
Lyman® Products, founded by avid outdoorsman, William Lyman, has been innovating firearms, reloading accessories and gear for 140 years. Today, using advanced technologies, Lyman is in the forefront of meeting the needs of shooters and reloaders across the world. Whether pioneering the use of digital technology in reloading tools or reintroducing “antique” calibers and bullet molds, Lyman continues to improve and innovate the tools and accessories used by serious shooters and reloaders.
Lyman products and brands are available nationally through firearms and sporting goods dealers and mail order companies. Pachmayr, TacStar, Trius Traps, A-Zoom Precision Snap Caps, Butch’s Gun Care and Targdots are also Lyman brands.


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July 04 (LBO) – Lengthy delays in automating Sri Lanka’s cargo clearing system were hurting the island’s chances of becoming a trading hub and making trading inefficient, a top freight forwarder said. “The automation of Sri Lanka’s cargo clearing system has not happened yet although it has been talked about for about five years,” said Niral Kadawatharatchie, chairman of the Sri Lanka Freight Forwarders’ Association.
“We need to move the project forward. It’s a big problem because we can’t move forward as a logistics and trading hub. Our global trading capability is reduced.”
He told LBO that the service provider given the contract to build the automated cargo clearing system, modelled on the system in Singapore, was “struggling” to deliver on the original specifications.
“It is only now that they have begun testing an electronic manifest between the Customs and Sri Lanka Ports Authority that would allow transmitting of electronic manifests by ships’ agents,” Kadawatharatchie said.
“This is an important part of the system as it’s important for exports and imports. But it is just a part of the proposed system, not the full version. We still can’t electronically conduct our business

domain: news


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Bank of America has finally updated its Android app to include a couple features that iOS users, as well as Android users with other banks (all the way back in late 2010, we might add), have enjoyed for a while now. The app has generally had a good and usable UI, but has lacked both mobile check deposits and notifications. We're happy to report that both of these features are now available and ready for download in the form of an update from the Play Store. Unfortunately, the tablet version of the app has yet to be updated with the same features.
Additional functionality is nice, but what we would really like to see is Bank of America choosing to follow Android style guidelines and remove the legacy menu button from the app. There's really no reason, almost a year after the release of Android 4.0, for any developer -- let alone one of this size -- to keep coding their app without an action bar and overflow settings button.
PS5 snub shows just how little Sony cares about India
The PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition will be going on sale in most global markets starting November 12. But with Sony failing to reveal pricing and availability details for India, PlayStation fans are left guessing as to when Sony's next-gen console will make its debut in the country.
Everything you need to know about the Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a 5G
The Pixel 4a is now available, the Pixel 4a 5G is coming soon, and we've rounded up everything you need to know about both phones. Let's dive in!
What to expect from Amazon's September 2020 Alexa & Ring hardware event
Amazon is set to host its annual fall hardware event on Thursday, September 24. Here are a few devices that we might expect to see at tomorrow's event.
The best portable instant photo printers for Android devices
You're on the move and making memories on your mobile. While digital is great, why not try and make those memories a little more permanent with a tangible photo?


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The Salford Business Awards sponsored by TalkTalk are an annual event organised in partnership between the University of Salford, The Business Group and Salford City Council.
Winners from the eight award categories were honoured at a glittering ceremony, hosted by Footballer turned entrepreneur, Gary Neville at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Online fashion brand Public Desire won ‘Large Business of the Year’.
The Swinton based company has experienced a phenomenal growth and continued global expansion by using social media to promote its products. With over a million followers across the brand’s social media channels, it is on course to becoming a leader in fast fashion within the global arena.
Ladybird Private Day Nursery was awarded ‘Small Business of the Year’ and ‘Best Employer’.
The Eccles based nursery which is managed by a team with over 35 years’ experience in childcare, is committed to providing high quality childcare and education to the local community.
Other winners included Creamline Dairies, Kingsland Drinks, Public Desire and MyManu who were winners of the Rising Star Award.


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Durban port partners with truckers to fix congestion
Durban Container Terminals (DCT) has partnered with transport logistics associations to confront the backlogs in the port following the strike by dockworkers last month.
Transnet announced in a statement late on Thursday that the port had partnered with four associations representing more than 300 trucking companies in an effort to clear current backlogs. These include Positive Freight Solutions, Change in Logistics, Harbour Carriers Association, and South African Association of Freight Forwarders.
Transnet said the partnership included truckers agreeing to work within the confines of the truck booking system and the new import storage rule. Transnet said DCT had reduced the number of vessels at anchor from 15 to eight within two weeks of the strike.
DCT managing executive, Earle Peters, said: “There has been an improvement in the availability of straddle carriers. We have also been monitoring trucks with high dwell times and transactions every hour.”
Peters added that the terminals had implemented several initiatives to maximise landside capacity, including implementation of the adjusted import storage rule allowing customers to collect containers as soon as they were offloaded from vessels. All the initiatives combined have resulted in improved operator moves per hour.
“We have established a virtual interchange transfer zone which allows spreading of volume to prevent congestion in one tower,” Peters said.
Terminals are now stacking two-high to reduce shuffles, and reefer stacks have been opened to general cargo, creating capacity to spread any availability to reefer blocks. The terminals have also introduced a performance monitoring tool that allows supervisors to track and provide feedback to individual operators of equipment.
He said that the mass evacuation by rail of import containers to back-of-port facilities had also contributed positively to the decongestion of the stacking yard and roads. Engagements with transport logistics associations were ongoing and terminal management was confident of a greater benefit in the short to long term.
Transnet had earlier estimated that it would take four months for the entire supply chain to recover fully from the delays caused by the strike, but ongoing collaboration and engagement with the logistics industry had focused on how to reduce this period. Maximum deployment of straddle carriers and maximum allocation of working teams on weekends underpin the current recovery plans, supported by an immediate technical response to any equipment breakdowns.
Courtesy of southern Africa’s Freight News – Full Article


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The event featured 22 exhibitors and approximately 300 delegates from 26 countries. Event organizer European Bioplastics, an association representing manufacturers, processors, and users of bioplastics and biodegradable polymers, reported that they expect significant growth in both the demand for bioplastics and investments in production facilities.
In a statement following the event, European Bioplastics said that the international production of bioplastics is expected to rise from 2006 levels of 150,000 tons to 2 million tons in 2011. The first of two keynote speakers at the event, Dr. Michael Stumpp, group vice president of BASF, said, “The bioplastics market has already become a considerable market, both on the retail and on the resin level. I am convinced that the market will grow quickly within the next few years.” Armand Klein, Europe business director for Applied Bio-Sciences at DuPont, said in his keynote address, “We [industry] have to reduce our environmental footprint drastically. Renewably sourced materials, which are already available today, can provide for a step in the right direction.”
Participants in a panel discussion on the question, “Is there enough land for bioplastics production?” said they believe that there is indeed enough land for all biomass applications. Bioplastics, panelists said, do not compete with the production of food products.
Andreas Pilzecker of the European Commission, Directorate General Agriculture, made it clear that biopolymers cannot be held responsible for the higher prices of agricultural raw materials. “Already in 2006, the European Commission assessed the anticipated impact of a 10-percent biofuel target on land use and grain prices and ascertained that the production of biofuels would only have a moderate impact,” he said. “Bioplastics require a significantly smaller share of the agricultural production and are therefore even less responsible for a price increase.” Michael Carus, director of the Nova Institute, agreed saying that currently, only 0.05% of European agricultural land is used to produce bioplastics.
More than 25 companies presented their latest materials and applications in the bioplastics sector. Speakers covered a wide range of subjects that included new packaging solutions featuring plastic film combinations for improved barrier properties and longer shelf life, improvements in compounds and additives, and technical products. Biodegradable films were described as an extremely promising area of growth. The date for the 2009 conference is still to be determined.
In December, the association released a position paper on life-cycle assessments for bioplastics. The paper outlines the opportunities and need for this life-cycle analysis as an analytical tool. The paper can be downloaded at www.european-bioplastics.org/index.php?id=191. More information on the association can be found at www.european-bioplastics.org


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Chinese service giant Meituan Dianping debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Thursday, the second company with dual-class shareholding structures listed in Hong Kong after Xiaomi.
China and Singapore on Wednesday agreed to promote bilateral cooperation and jointly safeguard multilateral trading system.
Chinese exhibitors are showcasing their innovative products and services in Berlin on the bi-annual "InnoTrans" railway industry trade fair, the largest of its kind in the world.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday called for enhanced discussions among all parties on problems facing the global economy so that common development and prosperity can be promoted.
Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said efforts should be made to promote the healthy development of China-U.S. trade even though it is hard to fulfill his previous promise of creating 1 million jobs for the U.S. under current circumstances.
CTO Zhang Jianfeng announced at the on-going 2018 Computing Conference that Alibaba has established a semiconductor company to produce embedded neural NPC and quantum chip.
China will stick to market-oriented reform of the exchange rate formation mechanism and will not pursue competitive devaluation of its currency, Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday.
The current trade dispute between China and the US is a lose-lose situation, said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.
One of President Donald Trump's former campaign directors, Bryan Lanza, the managing director of communications firm Mercury, says the race is on to resolve the China-US trade spat.
There is a lot of confusion as to what will happen in terms of China-US trade tensions. But while the US confusion reigns, China stays on course of reforms, according to Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, a UK drugmaker.
Amid increasing tensions of trade wars worldwide, around 100 leading scholars from China and Europe gathered in the headquarters of Belgian think tank Bruegel Monday.
China and Russia on Tuesday agreed to further explore new areas of investment cooperation and create a more favorable investment and business environment for both sides.
China will roll out new measures including cutting customs clearance time, streamlining port services and improving the export tax rebate policy to increase opening up and facilitate the steady growth of foreign trade.
A trade war between China and the United States benefits no one, and China's investment and market are both important for American businesses, Rick Snyder, Governor of Michigan said in an exclusive interview with CGTN.
China on Tuesday filed an additional complaint with the World Trade Organization against the U.S. decision to impose tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese goods under the Section 301 investigation.
China announced on Tuesday it will impose additional tariffs on U.S. products worth 60 billion U.S. dollars starting from Sept. 24 in response to the newly announced U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
Leading Chinese online travel agency Ctrip will launch a tailored service channel catering to tourism spending in destinations along the country's high-speed railways in its latest efforts to tap the domestic tourism market.
China has the second-largest number of Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies in the world, trailing only the United States, according to a blue paper published Monday.
China will levy retaliatory tariffs simultaneously with the US on American imports in response to Washington's latest announced round of tariffs, China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Beijing Public Transport Corporation is planning to open a "taxi-like" service in which passengers can order a bus online and take it with people heading to the same destination.


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After moving into Kyiv due to the Crimea annexation, the company claims the MTS brand in Ukraine, as LIGABusinessInform informs.
As turned out, the Russian company “Mobile TeleSystems” along with affiliated company Vodafone Ukraine has recently won the first-instance court case against LLC MTS Kyiv. LLC MTS was founded in the Crimea as far back as 2001. The company insists that “Mobile TeleSystems” started using its brand in Ukraine much later, as far back as 2007. The mobile operator was previously called UMC. It is known that the company’s website remained disabled up to May 2015, and then it had the same content for almost a year.
The State Intellectual Property Service made a premature cancellation of the trademark LLC MTS in Ukraine for the category 35 of goods and services. However, the history of the above companies’ conflict is very long. In 2013, the namesake company tried to establish to the satisfaction of the court that the operator violated its rights by using its brand in Ukraine. But even then “Mobile TeleSystems” won the lawsuit.
October 13, the Cabinet of Ministers filed a request to the court in order to become a third party in the trial. But the court disallowed the Cabinet’s request, making it clear that those actions would possible affect the government authority’s rights and duties. October 17, the Cabinet of Ministers supported LLC MTS, requesting to dismiss the claim of “Mobile Telesystems”. Its explanations were not made public.
Olga Ustinova, CEO at Vodafone Ukraine, stated that by the end of the first quarter of coming year – at the beginning of the second quarter, the company was about to remove definitely the MTS brand from the Ukrainian market. And until then, all the cellular operator’s stores would be rebranded.
In the autumn of 2015, the Russian MTS Group signed an agreement on using Vodafone brand in Ukraine, but MTS-Ukraine would remain under the MTS’s control.


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Scientists commissioned by the Scottish executive say that thousands of wild and farmed salmon would be destroyed if the bug, gyrodactylus salaris, enters the country’s waterways.
The parasite has already wrought havoc in Norway where 300 tons of fish in 40 rivers have been infected. It was introduced from Sweden when salmon smolts were imported to meet growing demand.
Efforts to prevent it entering Britain have so far proved successful but there are fears that it could be imported by the increasing numbers of anglers travelling between Scotland and Scandinavia.
Ministers recently approved new powers to deal with the parasite in the event of an outbreak, including the compulsory slaughter of fish and restricting the movement of live fish, fish eggs and feed.


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If Scott Morrison’s department is going to be underhanded you would think they would do something useful like airbrushing out this week’s largely dismal collection of economic figures, rather than doctoring a picture of the Prime Minister’s sneakers.
Mr Morrison’s Photoshopped family gathering showing him with two gleaming white left-footed trainers brought some light relief to a week that included the manufacturing sector contracting for the first time in 26 months, building approvals tumble and a further slowdown in job advertising growth.
And just when the economy seemingly needs a bit of a pick me up, the Bank of Queensland announced it was independently increasing interest rates on some loans, sparking fears other banks will follow suit.
It’s a decision that couldn’t have come at a worse time with confidence among consumers already starting the year on a sour note.
Financial markets are now pricing in a near-50 per cent chance the Reserve Bank will need to cut the cash rate this year to offset the impact of higher home loan rates while providing a lift to the economy.
Previously only a small group of economists were toying with the idea of a rate cut when the general view was that the next move would be up, albeit some way off.
The cash rate has stood at 1.5 per cent since August 2016.
AMP Capital’s chief economist Shane Oliver has been in the rate cut camp for a while.
“Our assessment remains that the next move in official interest rates will be a rate cut, thanks to sub-par (economic) growth, the negative impact of falling house prices, weak wages growth and sub-target inflation,” Mr Oliver said.
The central bank board will next meet on February 5.
Consumer confidence started the year with a 2.2 per cent drop, the largest fall since the Morrison government fell into minority government in October after the Liberals lost the once-safe NSW seat of Wentworth in a by-election.
It is hardly the mood the coalition would want heading into this election year.
ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank blamed a series of negative global news for the fall – from a slowdown in the Chinese economy to the stand-off between US President Donald Trump and the US Congress over his Mexican border wall.
Mr Plank also cited the continued focus on falling house prices domestically and also possibly Australia’s poor performance in the cricket as jarring sentiment.
Still, there was some slightly better news on the retail spending front with November figures showing a 0.4 per cent rise, the biggest monthly increase since June.
It was slightly stronger than economists had expected and likely reflected the “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” sales.
The question is whether this ate into the Christmas spend and Boxing Day sales. If Canberra is anything to go by, possibly not.
Anyone shopping at the usually sedate Canberra shopping centre on Boxing Day would have witnessed retail mayhem.
Even so, the October and November retail outcomes suggest household consumption has seen an improvement after the weakest result in around seven years during the September quarter, which weighed on the economy as a whole.
While weak wages growth and declining house price continue to trouble the mindset of shoppers, one key change has been the turnaround in petrol prices.
After striking a 10-year high in October, petrol prices are now at their lowest in 16 months.
It makes a huge difference to the household budget as filling up the car is one of the biggest outlays each week.
How all this plays out in the next set of quarterly national accounts – which contain key economic growth figures – on March 6 may have an influence on how voters perceive the government’s management of the economy.
However, it could come too late, should Mr Morrison call a snap election in the next few days for March 2, as some punters are predicting, rather than sticking with an earlier planned national poll in May.
The most recent opinion polls suggest the Morrison government is on the cusp of defeat whatever the case.
And no amount of Photoshop work, airbrushing, doctoring or editing can change those.
Colin Brinsden is AAP’s former economics correspondent based in the Canberra Press Gallery


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Ping4 raises $1.1M in equity
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- Don Seiffert, Correspondent
Hollis, N.H.-based Ping4 Inc., which develops software that “pings” smartphone users when they’re close to their favorite stores, has received $1.1 million in equity financing, according to documents filed today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The latest round of funding for the company, which was founded in 2011 by former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Bender, comes from 13 investors, according to the filing. The total amount offered was $3.4 million.
The startup just received $530,000 in funding in January from nine investors.
Bender leads the business as chief executive and Gerard Boucher is listed as an executive at the company along with three other directors listed at the company.
Before running for office in 2010, Bender launched and exited several companies, including IDEA Associates and Aware Inc. At his latest company, Nashua, N.H.-based network server company Logicraft, a handful of Bender’s former team members had been working at startup 1stWorks Corp. of Norfolk on the technology behind Ping4Deals.
The idea behind Ping4Deals is that a retailer offers deals that appear on a user’s mobile device when they come within a certain distance of their stores. The phone is aware that a store is nearby either by detecting an open Wi-Fi network or by using the phone’s location data and merchant data from Google maps, Bender said.
A retailer can set the distance in which the deal can be triggered, anywhere from 50 feet to 5 miles. Large retail chains such as Wal-Mart or CVS are the initial target for Ping4Deals, Bender told Mass High Tech last year. The company charges a small amount based on total sales volume.
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Intex Technologies enters the Indian smartphone market with $33 phones
In the previous part of this series, we discussed the dynamics of the Indian smartphone market.
Recently, Intex announced the introduction of its first smartphone in India, named Cloud FX. This smartphone will be based on the Mozilla Firefox operating system and will be priced pretty low, at $33.
A few months back, Google (GOOGL) also announced the launch of Android One. This is the smartphone operating system specifically introduced for low-cost smartphones in emerging markets. Google is planning to launch Android One in India along with local smartphone vendors Micromax and Spice.
During Asia’s largest computing show, Computex, a couple of months back, Microsoft (MSFT) announced that it will start selling smartphones and tablets running its software at below $200 in emerging markets. Since Microsoft acquired Nokia (NOK) earlier this year, Microsoft has focused on increasing its presence in the emerging markets.
Affordability plays an important role in emerging markets
Emerging markets are price-sensitive, and the affordability factor plays a very important role there. According to a report from IDC and as the chart above shows, in 2013, about 745 million sub-$100 feature phones sold worldwide, and India sold more than 200 million phones, followed by the Middle East and Africa plus Asia-Pacific. That’s why cheaper smartphone players like Nokia (NOK), BlackBerry (BBRY), and Lenovo (LNVGY) have seen more success in these markets.
Even Apple (AAPL), which is otherwise a premium player, had to resort to some price cuts in emerging markets, like launching the cheaper iPhone 5C last year and reducing the prices of older models like the iPhone 4S.


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The singing voices of the nuns at Mount St. Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham will be heard again soon, available online at iTunes and Amazon as well in music stores.
An international music group based in Paris is rereleasing the abbey’s 1962 recording, “Christmas in the Cloister.” The CD, which couples traditional Gregorian chants with well-known carols such as “Silent Night,” will be for sale again starting Tuesday.
“Christmas in the Cloister” was rediscovered by Jade Records, which has released Gregorian chant albums for 30 years. Stefan Karrar, Jade’s head of US acquisitions, said he came across Mount St. Mary’s Abbey while searching for Gregorian chant ensembles in this country.
The nuns’ chant on “Christmas in the Cloister,” he said, “is absolutely perfect. It’s unbelievable. That’s what blew us away.”
Jade Records and the abbey talked about making a new CD for the holiday season. But the recording is still in the works, and couldn’t be completed in time for this year. So, the company decided to rerelease the 1962 recording, in a development first reported by a local community newspaper, the Wrentham Times.
Jade “tries to promote Gregorian and monastic music,” said Mother Maureen McCabe, the abbess of the community of Cistercian nuns. “It doesn’t matter too much when it’s done, as long as it’s beautiful.”
McCabe, who has been at the abbey for 40 years, said a few of the nuns who sang for “Christmas in the Cloister” are still singing at the abbey. The Gregorian chant on the album is “immortal music,” she said.
Mount St. Mary’s Abbey was founded in 1949 and is now home to 41 nuns. McCabe said the sisters sing “a lot,” and record CDs occasionally for their own gift shop.
The new CD being produced by St. Mary’s and Jade will be made up of all Gregorian chants, and should be ready for release in the spring, according to Karrar.


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The Koala Brothers are doing much more these days than just hanging around, sucking back eucalyptus leaves. The characters from UK-based Spellbound Entertainment’s stop-motion series of the same name are indeed on the hunt for toddlers who can handle the truth as they search for Britain’s Most Helpful Preschoolers via a new nationwide contest launching this September.
Joint MD Peter Curtis says Spellbound approached The Preschool Learning Alliance (the largest voluntary-sector provider of childcare in the UK) and book retailer Waterstones to create the contest aimed at rewarding tots who help others, which reflects the central theme of the series. A nationwide newspaper and magazine campaign is in the works to start getting the word out and The Koala Brothers’ website will field contest entries or, more accurately, nominations. Parents and caregivers are being asked to submit stories describing their preschoolers’ helpful acts.
Along with the chance to win tickets to Cbeebies Live! shows and book prizes courtesy of Waterstones, a panel of celebrity judges is being put together to select preschoolers from 12 regions across the country to be lauded at a ceremony in London later this year. These finalists will also get to attend a pre-Christmas tea party and meet Koala Brothers, Frank and Buster in London.
Currently, The Koala Brothers airs on Cbeebies in the UK and has been sold into 155 territories worldwide to 47 different broadcasters. Along with launching a new website that features up-to-the-minute games, Spellbound has just inked a deal with Ragged Bears Publishing for four new Koala Brothers storybooks.


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Deltatre is a global leader in the sport business, consistently pushing the bounds of how spectator sports are consumed, all around the world.
Working with the largest sports entities deltatre creates end to end solutions that support rights holders in delivering multi-platform sporting coverage. From coupling live video and live data, to distributing an integrated mix of content across a wide variety of platforms and devices; from developing strategies that maximize ROI on new innovations, to building stunning, responsive user interfaces, to producing content for the newest immersive experiences that are transforming fan consumption.
As international leader in sport media and technology, and as DFL partner, deltatre highly appreciates the opportunity to showcase its innovative power on such a prestigious stage, rendered unique by a distinctive live-demo character.
SportsInnovation 2020 – from football to sport!
The idea of SportsInnovation – to show all the technologies needed to make a top-class sports event take place and to accompany it with media coverage – has convinced them. We are happy that we could win the four German professional leagues as strategic partners of SportsInnovation!
It is a well-known fact that Israel is considered the new “Silicon Valley” in many industries. All the more gratifying that The Israeli Economic and Trade Mission Munich in cooperation with the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute are represented at this year’s SPORTSINNOVATION with 11 companies / startups under an Israeli National Pavilion called “Israel Innovation Zone”.
Doron Hemo, Head of the Economic and Trade Mission of the Israeli Economic and Trade Mission Munich: “The format of the SportsInnovation, less trade fair or congress as a” technology park to touch “is an ideal opportunity for our companies to present their innovative technologies.


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Prague, Dec 3 (CTK) – About five hundred people took part in a protest against the introduction of the electronic registration of sales (EET) organised by the Association of Businesspeople and Managers in a central square of the Czech capital city Saturday.
The association’s head Radomil Babek said the EET system was a despotic instrument through which the state spied on the self-employed.
“If Babis wants to reduce the grey economy, he must start with something else, not with the self-employed people,” he said.
Babek label the EET a socialist revolution.
Hotels and restaurants were the first to obligatorily join the system that Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) introduced on December 1. Retail and wholesale traders will join the EET next March and other business sectors will follow.
The basic principle of EET consists in permanent on-line connection of entrepreneurs to tax administration servers, with each bill being registered in the system immediately after it is issued.
According to the Financial Administration, more than 37,000 restaurant and hotel operators have registered over 6.7 million bills in the system so far.
Financial Administration spokeswoman Petra Petlachova said the EET system was operating smoothly.
The protesters who gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square called for free enterprise and they rejected state dictatorship.
Civic Democrat (right-wing opposition ODS) deputy chairwoman Alexandra Udzenija said the current centre-left government overburdened the entrepreneurs and considered them thieves.
She said the billionaire Babis would like to employ everybody in his giant socialist Agrofert holding.
Daniel Pitek, who attended the protest, said he ran a pub on the peak of the Milesovka mountain but had to close it down due to the introduction of the EET. “I feel like the Red Indians whose territory had been taken away from them, who were sent into reserves and depended on the alms from the white man,” he said.
The government hopes that the EET will curb grey economy and prevent tax evasions, while the right-wing opposition claims that the new system will liquidate many small entrepreneurs.
The entrepreneurs who join the EET will be able to use a one-off discount of up to 5,000 crowns for the costs connected with the system introduction. In addition, VAT rate for catering services, with the exception of alcoholic drinks, will be cut from the current 21 to 15 percent.
Last week, Babis proposed that tradespeople who pay a lump-sum tax and whose annual business revenues do not exceed 250,000 crowns be exempted from the system.


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Tech giant Amazon is currently undergoing a probe for potentially breaching the digital markets competition.
Members of the United States House Judiciary Committee have referred tech giant Amazon to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). According to the House committee, Amazon and some of its top executives have breached certain conducts in the market.
In a letter to the Attorney General of the United States, the committee said the company had engaged in the practice and pattern of misleading conduct.
This conduct suggested that Amazon and its executives were acting improperly to influence or block the committee’s investigation into competition in digital markets. The letter dated March 9 read;
“We have no choice but to refer this matter to the Department of Justice to investigate whether Amazon and its executives obstructed Congress in violation of applicable federal law.”
Amazon is yet to respond to this latest development.
The referral to the DOJ comes after House Committee warned Amazon back in October 2021. At the time, the panel accused the company and its top executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, of misleading Congress or lying to the members about its business practices.
The letter also comes a few days after a report emerged revealing that Amazon was conducting a campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India to increase sales of its own brands. However, Amazon had denied the allegations.
According to the House members, the news reports contradict the sworn testimony and representations of Amazon’s top executives, including former CEO Jeff Bezos.
At the time, Amazon stated that the company and its executives didn’t mislead the committee, adding that the stories published in the major media outlets were inaccurate.
In the letter sent to the United States attorney general today, the lawmakers cited stories from some of the leading media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Politico, regarding the company’s e-commerce business practices.


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Denny's Corporation to Present at the 2008 Wachovia Consumer Growth Conference
Spartanburg, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Denny's Corporation (Nasdaq: DENN) today announced that management will present at the 2008 Wachovia Consumer Growth Conference to be held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 10:15 AM EDT in New York City. Speaking at the conference will be F. Mark Wolfinger, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer and S. Alex Lewis, Vice President and Treasurer.
Interested parties can access a live audio webcast and obtain a copy of the presentation in the Investor Relations section of Denny's website at email@example.com. An audio archive of the webcast will be available in the same location a few hours after the presentation is completed.
Denny's is America's largest full-service family restaurant chain, consisting of 354 company-owned units and 1,191 franchised and licensed units, with operations in the United States, Canada, Costa Rica, Guam, Mexico, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. For further information on Denny's, including news releases, links to SEC filings and other financial information, please visit Denny's investor relations website at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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If sell-out status is any indication, Strivectin's new LineBlurfector Instant Wrinkle Blurring Primer might just be one of the best primers you can get. In the past week, the skin-smoothing product sold out at not one but two major retailers.
Selling out is a really good sign for a product. When stock becomes limited on shelves, it's usually an indicator the item in question has something special going on. When it sells out at multiple retailers, it's a potential miracle product. In the past week, the Strivectin LineBlurfector Instant Wrinkle Blurring Primer sold out at both Ulta and Nordstrom.
The primer is specifically formulated to target wrinkles — even the deep-set ones — with some blurring and filling action. In clinical tests, 97 percent of participants agreed that skin felt smoother and more refined, and 94 percent agreed that the primer kept makeup from settling into creases, according to the brand.
It starts with "optical blurring microspheres," basically little particles that scatter light and create that flattering, slightly blurred, Instagram filter effect — but in real life. The formula is then boosted with vitamin E, evodia fruit extract, and verbascum Thapsus flower, which are ingredients that help even out skin texture. But the real differentiator is Strivectin's proprietary, patented NIA-114 technology — a combo of niacin and vitamin B3 to help strengthen your skin barrier.
Even though the primer is selling out like a limited-edition collab, you can still get your hands on it at strivectin.com and at department stores across the country. According to Nordstrom's website, the brand expects to have the primer back in stock on March 24, while it's already back in stock at ulta.com.
If the product's history is any indication, you'll want to scoop this up fast before it sells out again.
For more primers:


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Topps to put case break contest cards in packs
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
If you haven’t dabbled with the trend of case breaks you can — simply by ripping into a pack of 2015 Topps Series 1.
Topps announced on Friday that it will be placing redemption cards for case-break slots done by the company — 21 different case breaks during 2015.
The breaks will be streamed on YouTube via the ToppsTV channel throughout the year. The products will include 2015 Topps Dynasty, Tier One, Triple Threads, Supreme, Heritage and other products with a loftier price tag than the flagship brand.
Redemptions will be for specific teams in specific products based on the company’s preview information.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at firstname.lastname@example.org. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.


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It was supposed to be the start of a new era. Like so many things in 2020, however, the world had other plans.
The seventh edition of Luftgekühlt, the hotly anticipated annual gathering of all things air-cooled in the Porsche world, was scheduled to move to the east coast for the first time after originating in southern California, and even expanding to global meet-ups. Instead of drawing enthusiasts to Durham, North Carolina, however, the once-delayed festival had to postpone Luft 7 until 2021.
“It was a city and a venue that we were really excited about. 2020 had different plans,” said Patrick Long, one of Luft’s original founders along with Howie Idelson.
While car shows are among the many large scale events to go on hiatus, Long, the only North American Porsche Motorsport Factory Driver, has stayed busy behind the wheel as the racing season has resumed, albeit often times without an audience. He and the Luft team have also stayed occupied.
“We still have the ambition to be back there as soon as the proverbial dust settles, but right now we're just sort of watching and waiting, and working really hard in the background,” said Long. “We'll be visible before the end of the year, just in different formats.”
An average Luft in the States regularly attracts attendees from more than 40 states and 20 countries. Each edition features highly curated sets of rare Porsche sports cars on display, as well as a unique location announced just prior to the opening day. In 2019, Luft 6 took over a Universal Studios backlot for the occasion.
Without being able to stage the gathering they had planned, the Luft team has been reevaluating its options. That includes looking back to the original Luft vibe, which functioned more like a pop-up.
“They'll be some of those type of events, revisiting our past and just trying to look for ways to maybe come to our followers versus asking them to get on a plane,” said Long.
In the meantime, classic Porsche fans will have plenty to look forward to. Long said the team finished up and published its second hardbound coffee table book, this version covering the fourth, fifth and sixth Luft. It also is anticipating the release of an officially-licensed Luftgekühlt line of Mattel Hot Wheels.
“It’s really special because it reaches such a worldly demographic,” said Long. “Mattel told me that more kids put their hands on Hot Wheels than have internet connection around the world. Luft has always been about capturing a new audience and celebrating the legends, and I think Hot Wheels does something very similar with their designers and their heritage.”
As for grown-up toys on display, Luft will have a small pop-up at the 2020 Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in honor of a recently-announced racing series. Earlier in the year, Luft also made a trip to Zell, Austria, to one of the home towns of the Porsche family, for a collaboration with the GP Ice Race.
Along with the camaraderie, the return of frantic hours before an event also bring back something Long continues to miss. After months of preparation, there’s always a moment of reflection before the gatherings open.
Set-up: Luft in Munich
“It’s very sacred somewhat emotional. It's quiet and you're alone in a non-museum setting with some really special road and race cars. The diversity of what we end up with on our hands – we usually have about 50 feature cars under our responsibility for that 24 hours before – a lot of cars that I've not driven or even seen,” said Long. “That's kind of our happy hour, usually about three in the morning on the eve of the show when we have everything in place. We just have a beer and relax for one split second.”
Luft will continue to connect the present with the past, and do its best to captivate today’s youth and future generations as it plans its comeback in the coming years.
“If I had my wish it would be right back where we had laid everything out,” said Long of the cancelled November gathering. “We're watching and waiting, and being responsible. It’s just not quite time for the big show.”


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Today, Consumer Reports says the Tesla Model S has too many reliability issues to warrant a recommendation, General Motors and LG Chem detail their partnership for the Chevrolet Bolt EV electric car, and the Toyota Mirai and an electric DeLorean DMC-12 are used to highlight the 30th anniversary of Back to the Future. All this and more on Green Car Reports.
Dyson buys solid-state battery startup Sakti3 for $90 million.
As National Electric Vehicles Sweden (NEVS) continues to struggle, it licenses the old Saab 9-3 design to Turkey for a new "national car" project.
A Toyota Mirai promotion and an electric DeLorean highlight Back to the Future Day celebrations.
Volkswagen sets up an online tool for owners to check whether their TDI diesel cars are being recalled.
The Tesla Model S has too many reliability issues to warrant a recommendation, Consumer Reports says.
General Motors will rely on battery supplier LG Chem for large parts of the Chevrolet Bolt EV's running gear and electronics. It says production of the 200-mile electric car will begin before the end of 2016.
Toyota recalls 2 million vehicles in the U.S. from both the Toyota and Scion brands over faulty power window switches that could cause fires.
Finally, as if an SUV from the iconic British brand wasn't unusual enough, the Bentley Bentayga will reportedly feature a diesel engine option, with an electric turbocharger.


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Thousands turn out for Summer Fiesta despite weather
Thousands of people turned up for a Summer Fiesta event despite the mixed weather.
Weston Park's Summer Fiesta event has returned for the third year featuring a line-up of food and drink producers, unique crafts and live music.
The event saw the entire Weston Park Estate in Weston-under-Lizard open to the public, with thousands of people visiting to enjoy the surroundings and the summer fun.
Andrea Webster, marketing manager at Weston Park, said: "It's been a fantastic day. We have had just over 1,000 people us today and we are expecting more tomorrow if the sun decides to shine.
"We had just over 45 artisanal stores at the event, with live music from the Gold Rooms playing covers from the 70s, 80s and 90s. Everyone was having an amazing time. "
The two-day event will see more stalls take to the grounds, as well as music events, workshops and performances.
Ms Webster continued: "Everyone was having a good time even though the ground was a bit soggy.
"We are looking forward to carrying this on tomorrow when all the traders and food stalls will be back. We will also have our live band, the Dirty Rocking Scoundrels, who are a real fan favourite."
Elouise Smith, 32, mother of two who went to the event, said: "It was a really good day. We didn't let the rain stop us from getting out there and having a good time.
"The dhol drumming workshop was fantastic the kids really enjoyed it. I'm a vegetarian so Halloumination being there was really good, it was a really good day."
The event will run again tomorrow, with exclusive discounted tickets still available to purchase until 9am Sunday morning.
For more information, including where to buy tickets, visit the Weston Park website Weston-park.com/


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G Data Security Labs, the anti-malware software provider have recorded more than 666,666 unique mobile malware programs for the Android platform in their database. The report is updated till June 2013. The report also added that the number is expected to rise fast. The growth is tremendous as three years ago the malware for mobile phones was still in its infancy and has since grown by leaps and bounds with the acceptability of Android devices. The malware code ranging from annoying joke apps into money collecting apps to advertising distributors and root malware were involved in this growth.
Another recent report by Juniper Networks Mobile survey has found that there is a 614% increase in the mobile malware in the last 12 months to March 2013, with Android attacks accounting for 92% of these attacks. The threats are capable of stealing corporate information as well and have started to penetrate businesses. Most of these threats originate from sites in Russia and China who employ “botnets” to expand their infections.
Many of these attacks in Android originate from users installing unverified applications from outside of Google Play Store, says the report. Moreover, sometimes Google Play Store apps also get affected as Android allows even rooted users to navigate around to gain access to its App store while Apple does not allow any such access, even to its ‘jailbroken’ users. Malware that sent Premium SMS to gain its designers money is also sighted in the Juniper report, essentially making the Android ecosystem more vulnerable than competitors.
Some of the tips you can employ to keep you from such attacks include setting up a lock screen and not caching the passwords while entering credentials of websites. It might be very inconvenient, but it will make it worth the effort by protecting you against most web-based attacks. Install only verified and trusted applications from Play Store, and if you’re unsure, go through the reviews before installing a newer app from Play Store or avoid it altogether. Install an anti-malware program for mobile such as Netquin, Avast or Kaspersky from the official Apps Store. If you’re a rooted user, install verified apps from Apps Store or trusted communities like XDADevelopers and provide Super User access to only those apps you trust via reviews and ratings on the App Store or forums.


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The nonprofit group, Fight for the Future, is trying to find assistance in its campaign to save safety. The group plans to hold a rally outside the San Bernardino Courthouse where Apple will handle the FBI over apple iphone security on March 22nd. Pro-encryption supporters could leave a message of assistance for Apple on SaveSecurity.org. The messages will then be displayed outside the courthouse on the day of Apple’s hearing.
iPhone and also iPad proprietors could also download and install banners and even pictures to present on social media or blog sites, and contribute money to the recurring fight over personal privacy.
The FBI is aiming to force Apple to produce a backdoor to access an iPhone 5c had by the terrorists accountable for the mass San Bernardino capturing in 2015. Apple has actually opposed a federal court order to unlock the device for the FBI mentioning a policy to never ever undermine the protection of its products. In a message posted on SaveSecurity.org, Battle for the Future notes that it plans to ‘enlighten as lots of people as possible that this is not practically one phone,’ however ‘it’s about all of our security.’ To do so Fight for the Future searchings for the general public to show its support by getting the word out.
Fight for the Future has actually led successful on the internet campaigns in the past against CISPA as well as SOPA.
Apple’s rejection to adhere to the FBI’s apply for has actually brought about a heated national dispute over file encryption and also safety and security. Public numbers such as Donald Trump, Expense Gates as well as more have actually all publicly sided with either Apple or the FBI. Comedian likewise featured the dispute on his HBO television series, Last Week Tonight. You can view the section below.


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The Chinese certification agency TENAA has leaked information on a new LG flagship smartphone that is due on October 1. The device is called V10 and comes with a secondary display and a fingerprint reader.
The V10 is expected to offer a 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (MSM8992) processor on 20 nm production process with two high-performance Cortex-A57 cores at 1.8 GHz and four slower Cortex-A53 cores for lighter tasks. The smartphone has Adreno 418 graphics, support for LTE, a large 5.7-inch sensor display at 2K resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels), 3 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal memory, a 16 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera. But there’s more – the handset will have a second front camera that will allow the smartphone to record 3D video clips, while the secondary display will strictly be for notifications – thus the main display will not be occupied with such information.
The new high-end smartphone will be unveiled in New York in about 2 weeks time. As in many other cases the price of the new tech wonder is unknown.


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One of the world's largest rice importers, the Philippines, is on a problem that is being described as ‘rice price crisis’ but I believe that this is experienced worldwide.
Yesterday I was saddened of the doubling of the rice price here in South Cotabato, where in a fact that our province is named as the rice granary of the country, where in the production of rice is very abundant and enough. I believe we don't have a food crisis but, rather, a rice price crisis.
We sell rice in our store in the subdivision and in my free time I help in playing as tindero in our store. Lately, I observed that mostly of our neighbor in the subdivision or even outside the subdivision purchase rice in our store and I always hear them complaining about how the rice price increase everyday but they were thankful because our store is selling good quality rice at and keeping a break-even price. My parents who run the store were not considering the profit they will get in this business as long as rice is available in a reachable price in our subdivision. You might say that this is unintelligent and stupid thing to do nowadays but mind you my parents were happy doing this.
I hope the prices would firm up to current levels and would not further increase within the period because there are many poor families out there who cannot eat anymore. I pray also that the government will be looking for more innovative solutions in the country--how to address not only the issue of supply but also the issue of prices.
Latest in the news, reports that, the government encourages Filipino farmers to produce more because it pays to produce food. Is this an indirect way to blame the farmers for the current rice situation? I guess there is no way that our farmers should be blamed for the current rice situation because the production is sufficient. One farmer here in the province told us that when they have their harvest, NFA would release stock of rice in the marker and in effect farmers would sell their rice at a low price but when there is no harvest, rice authority declares that rice is scarce. I would then wonder if it is scarce or stored.
But in a press briefing last week, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap ticked off five critical reasons behind the current rice situation that our country is experiencing:
- A supply largely affected by an increased demand resulting from rising population.
- Climate change.
- Booming demand for biofuels.
- Continuous conversion of agricultural lands to non-agriculture use.
- Neglect of irrigation facilities.
And,” but there are solutions, and we can move forward from where we are today," he said.
Hope that this will be solved as soon because price of rice is hitting consumer pockets and stomachs.


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Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.
In case you missed our coverage this week in ThreatWatch, Nextgov’s
The same zero days that allowed sophisticated spyware to take over iPhones also existed in Apple OS X and the Safari web browser.
Citizen Lab and Lookout last week reported three exploits called Trident that could remotely jailbreak an iOS device and install spyware. Trident was used in the wild: A human rights activist received text messages that lead to the exploits’ discovery.
Apple released a security update Aug. 25 for its mobile operating system. The company released urgent security updates for El Capitan and Yosemite on Sept. 1.
“The same vulnerabilities showed up in OS X because the desktop and mobile versions of the Safari browser share much of the same code base,” according to a CNET report.
A family of malware has infected more than 1 million internet-enabled devices for potential use as a botnet for hire.
According a Level 3 Threat Research and Flashpoint report, hacker groups like Lizard Squad and Poodle Corp harness the devices to provide “distributed denial of service attacks as a service” to individuals—or for their own plans.
The malware goes by many names—Lizkebab, BASHLITE, Torlus and gafgyt—and has spawned many variants since its source code popped up in early 2015, the report said. Security cameras and DVRs make up the bulk of the bots.
Researchers identified more than 200 command and control servers that communicate with a varying number of bots with the largest talking to 120,000.
The report warned IoT manufacturers need to take security more seriously and that hackers will continue to target devices with weak security.
“Before spending more energy on traditional bot hosts, they’ll take advantage of the abundance of insecure IoT devices. Until IoT device manufacturers start attending to security and device owners stop connecting them insecurely to the internet, we can expect this trend to continue,” the report said.
Emails and passwords for 68 million online cloud storage accounts emerged this week, years after the initial breach.
Dropbox announced Aug. 26 users would have to reset their passwords if their accounts were made before mid-2012 and haven’t updated their credentials.
“We learned about an old set of Dropbox user credentials (email addresses plus hashed and salted passwords) that we believe were obtained in 2012. Our analysis suggests that the credentials relate to an incident we disclosed around that time,” the Dropbox site said.
The data, however, popped up in database trading community but doesn’t appear to be in the “major dark web marketplaces,” according to Motherboard.
Dropbox also used two hashing algorithms, one of which, bcrypt, Motherboard said hackers were “unlikely” to crack to access users’ passwords.
“We don’t believe that any accounts have been improperly accessed,” said the Dropbox announcement. To improve security, the company suggested using unique passwords across multiple services, only use accounts with secure devices and enable two-step verification.


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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A hearing on whether to approve the bankruptcy sale of assets of electronics retailer RadioShack opened Thursday with the company seeking court approval of the purported winning bid, and an attorney for a losing bidder describing the auction as a sham and asking a Delaware judge to reopen the sale process.
NEW YORK (AP) - Some of the most familiar names in ketchup, pickles, cheese and hot dogs are set to come under the same roof after H.J. Heinz Co. announced plans Wednesday to buy Kraft and create one of the world's largest food and beverage companies.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. is mounting a public defense of its animal handling in a new advertising campaign that began Monday, after a highly critical 2013 documentary left the park with declining revenue and attendance.
NEW YORK (AP) - OPEC and lower global oil prices delivered a one-two punch to the drillers in North Dakota and Texas who brought the U.S. one of the biggest booms in the history of the global oil industry.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) - Dozens of health insurers say higher-than-expected care costs and other expenses blindsided them this year, and they're going to have to hike premiums for individual policies well-beyond 10 percent for 2016.
TOKYO (AP) - Godzillas galore, including last year's Hollywood version, stomp on buildings, thrashing about and breathing fire, in a video game going on sale globally mid-July. But don't expect any references to radiation, the mutant reptile's trademark affliction.
MOUNTAIN VIEW (AP) - Google is making its privacy controls easier to find and understand in an attempt to make the more than 1 billion users of its digital services more comfortable about the personal information that they give the Internet's most powerful company.
MENLO PARK (AP) - Several dozen people gathered at Facebook's headquarters to protest a company policy of asking users to authenticate their identities if questions have been raised about the names on their accounts.


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The keys to unlocking the growing market for tourism and travel by ageing people and those with disabilities will top the agenda at a special forum hosted by Local Government NSW (LGNSW) and Broken Hill City Council.
LGNSW President Keith Rhoades said the increasing demand for inclusive tourism and recreational opportunities was proving to be a significant economic driver for a wide range of communities across NSW.
“Twenty per cent of the population have a disability and of these, 88 per cent take a holiday each year,” Councillor Rhoades said.
“Visitors with disabilities are usually accompanied by carers, friends and family, which makes inclusive tourism a huge section of the travel and recreation market.
“It’s already valued at around $8 billion per year, with plenty of room for further growth.”
Clr Rhoades said many councils were already conscious of the economic potential of the inclusive tourism market, which extends beyond people with disabilities to ageing Australians and international visitors.
“Remember that 3.7 million Australians were aged over 65 in 2015, and the baby boomers who helped revolutionise tourism, travel and recreation will soon be joined by the next generation of older travellers,” he said.
“Getting older isn’t what it used to be.
“Most retirees have not only retained their sense of adventure, but now have the time and financial security to really get out there and enjoy life.”
Clr Rhoades said the forum was designed to bring industry players together, including councils, to share best practice in offering inclusive tourism and recreational experiences.
Forum goers will hear from Trip Advisor, Destination NSW, the NSW Business Chamber and Local Government NSW while also having the opportunity to network with local industry colleagues.
“There is a wealth of small changes that can increase both accessibility and profits, and the upcoming forum is designed to help unlock these for everyone,” Clr Rhoades said.
“There’s also a focus on providing the best customer service to older people and visitors with a disability as well as their families and carers.
“I’d encourage anyone who sees the opportunity to grow their business and local economy through inclusive tourism to come along to the forum, which will be held at the Broken Hill Musicians Club in Broken Hill on Wednesday 6 September 2017, from 8.00-9.00am.”
Anyone interested in attending the free forum can register online but numbers are limited, so early registration is advised.


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Research in Motion (RIM) certainly remains a troubled company. With no cool products to put on the display shelves during the holiday season – with even the formerly rock solid faithful losing faith on a daily basis – and with no clear indication as yet when in fact we might expect to see new products in 2013, where can we really place RIM on the mobile continuum?
When RIM released its LTE-enabled PlayBook we noted that board member Prem Watsa was buying up substantial blocks of RIM shares, and we wondered, “What does Watsa know, or believe?” It is possible that what Watsa believes or knows is…Samsung. That notion wouldn’t be far off the mark if Jefferies analyst Peter Misek is to be believed.
Misek has spun out this idea of Samsung and RIM either partnering or Samsung making a full scale (albeit dirt cheap) acquisition a few times, and is now coming around to doing so again.
Misek is quite comfortable with holding on to the belief that RIM’s ongoing strategic review can only arrive at one specific strategy - to license BB10 to Samsung. Misek also reads “Samsung” into RIM CEO Thorsten Heins recent statement that licensing BB10 in a world where RIM can no longer compete with companies that easily spin out 60 mobile devices a year may make the most strategic sense for RIM. RIM’s stock did jump from $7.31 to $8.35 since Wed. and remains above $8 per share as we write – so Misek’s Samsung musing is getting out.
Would Canadians mind having one of their own (albeit formerly) stellar home grown brands sitting under Samsung ownership? We seriously doubt that of course, but if RIM can find a deal option that retains and sustains the RIM brand and some level of RIM autonomy, it may still work for Canadians. We note this because national pride in a global brand is a powerful thing and not something to be underestimated in terms of the kind of deal RIM may end up looking to make and be given government approval to do.
Heins has specifically used the word “licensing” and has not made mention of giving any serious thought to M&A activity. What Samsung thinks about licensing vs. M&A is anyone’s guess – they aren’t speaking on the subject.
Lots of Upside, No Downside
What are the reasons Samsung might have an interest here? We can think of a few:
- RIM has somewhere between 75 and 80 million active subscribers – some large percentage of these might migrate to Apple or Microsoft/Nokia, but the vast majority will remain captive RIM (meaning RIM/Samsung) users – a huge new target market for Samsung to sell into, with little marketing effort required.
- Even today, RIM has deep roots into the enterprise, especially in North America, where the mobile enterprise business overall is huge and will remain huge over the next decade.
- If nothing else, RIM is known for the security of its enterprise infrastructure – and has government security certificates that could prove invaluable to opening up new channels for Samsung to sell into.
- BlackBerry Mobile Fusion would become the centerpiece of Samsung’s MDM capabilities – which currently reside under its “Samsung Approved for Enterprise (SAFE) platform – an extremely modest bit of MDM and security capability that holds no real business sway.
- BlackBerry 10 we believe, based on what we have seen firsthand to date, will in fact allow for some truly unique capabilities that Samsung would legitimately be able to claim as “innovative” – this is a key differentiation issue for Samsung, which needs a real world way to counter the reality (or at least the established perception) that most of its work to date in smartphones has copied Apple and has otherwise been primarily derivative even where it hasn’t copied Apple.
- BlackBerry 10, regardless of how long it is taking RIM to get it out the door, is a major and well-established mobile operating system – unlike all of Samsung’s own earlier efforts to drive mobile OS development internally, Samsung will always be an amateur at this. Bringing BB 10 on board delivers a hugely legitimate second mobile OS and highly experienced mobile OS developer into the fold. This would entirely remove the total and complete reliance on Google/Android that currently exists. With Google’s Motorola acquisition and with Google being the ultimate holder of last resort for Android in terms of defining Android (and of course with nothing to keep Google from giving Motorola hardware special advantages it may choose not to share), Samsung would love to reduce that reliance significantly, and BB10 represents a very real means of doing so.
- The “Samsung BlackBerry” smartphone (and tablet) would not only work in the enterprise, but would likely also work in the high end consumer space – a market that RIM has completely lost.
That’s quite the collection of positives for a Samsung M&A deal.
What would be in it or RIM? Well, “Research in Motion” would disappear, but the BlackBerry brand would likely survive well into the future, as would much of RIM’s design, manufacturing, BB10 and BES/Security infrastructure development teams. That would be significant for the local jobs outlook. In fact Samsung could conceivably grow a much larger manufacturing capability in Canada. Keeping the development teams in place would be essential for ongoing enterprise support.
That leaves the one absolutely vital piece of the BlackBerry puzzle open…the famous NOCs that all BlackBerry traffic flows through. Would ownership of the NOCs by a South Korean company sit well with other world governments? RIM’s vaunted security is, ironically, tied to the NOCS, which are sometimes perceived to be security issues in and of themselves - RIM itself has had lots of issues here with foreign governments. It is an open question but likely one that would ultimately be resolved.
So, the bottom line is that for RIM it could mean survival and the possibility of returning to the spotlight; the alternative is to continue on as a struggling and minor second tier player).
For Samsung there are huge upsides. Period. And there is the issue of RIM being extraordinarily affordable – it will remain so even after factoring in the substantial premium Samsung would have to offer as part of any serious M&A offer.
The alternative for Samsung is that it will remain the monster global Android player it already is, but one with potential long term weakness relative to Google (the Google threat might never materialize, but the possibility will always give Google leverage). And, of course, an Android-only Samsung without BB10 will always remain in Apple’s innovation shadow.
So perhaps this is what Prem Watsa knows. Or believes. It makes sense.
Want to learn more about today’s powerful mobile ecosystem? Then be sure to attend the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo, collocated with ITEXPO West 2012 taking place Oct. 2-5 2012, in Austin, TX. Co-sponsored by TMC Partner Crossfire Media the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo provides unmatched networking opportunities and a robust conference program representing the mobile ecosystem. The conference not only brings together the best and brightest in the wireless industry, it actually spans the communications and technology industry. For more information on registering for the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo click here.
Stay in touch with everything happening at Mobility Tech Conference & Expo. Follow us on Twitter.
Edited by Braden Becker


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It’s been quite a week which, for myself and others such as Felipe DeConce (Chile) and Simon Olson (Brazil), marks an inflection point in the world of Latin American web start-ups. As I mentioned in the article published in VentureBeat and NYTimes.com, US web start-ups are starting to acquire Latin American web companies much earlier in their development process. For example, witness the recent actions by Groupon and Playdom in rapidly acquiring web companies in Latin America.
Also, I wanted to write said article because I’ve been observing the funding process of a few Latin American start-ups looking for funding in the states and I wanted to get something published on the Latin America web investment opportunities which start-ups could reference with international investors. Although I wasn’t able to go too much into detail, I highlighted the fact that I feel Latin America offers what Warren Buffett looks for in investments which are defensible “moats” around great profit margins and growing competitive advantage.
Aditionally, VentureBeat published an article I wrote about Netactica, an Argentine web company offering end-to-end solutions to the online travel industry in Latin America. Incredibly, yesterday, Google acquired ITA Software (relatively similar to Netactica in Latin America) in a demonstration that there is much value in these types of end-to-end solution providers in online travel. According to a number of analysts, this acquisition changes the dynamics of the online travel booking and search market. Personally, I think that a player like Netactica has much to gain with this turn of events and, with the increasing interest on the part of international investors in Latin America, the company should benefit quite a bit.
As if this weren’t enough, I spoke last week with Fernando LaBastida and Ricardo Guerrero who have an excellent initiative with the organizers of SXSW in Austin (they live there) to include a panel on Latin America during the next event in 2011. Nevertheless, in order to make sure there is interest on the part of audience members, it’s important for people to suggest ideas for the panel.
I’m completely serious when I say that this week was a critical moment for the development of Latin American web start-ups. You can be certain that investor interest will now start to accelerate at an amazingly fast pace. Now, we need to find the most talented technical and non-technical people in the region so that these can focus on digital innovation.
In order to accelerate this, Thomas Floracks and myself are launching a weekly show (we haven’t decided the day and time, yet) so that, among other things, we can analyze one or two interesting initiatives during the show. Note: for now, we’ll do it in Spanish, but will do a shorter recap show in English if there is interest. More details on this are coming soon. It’s a good moment to launch this show because we need to elevate the conversation beyond comments like “look at my neat website” or “I’m going to sell xyz on the internet.” It’s time for clear paths to profitability and solving real customer problems.


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New local-owned South Lake Tahoe grocery service delivers goods
From the way business founder Kyle Jordan describes it, his now South Shore-based company, Express Lane Delivery, started sort of by accident.
“I was sick one day in my house and wanted Gatorade and chicken soup,” he said of his inspiration while living in Nashville, Tennessee.
And so the idea for a grocery delivery company began.
Initially more of a hobby or side project in Nashville, it continued when he moved to Tahoe four years ago. But last September — after four years working for Harrah’s and Harveys casinos — it became a full-time endeavor with his former Harveys/Harrah’s boss and now co-owner Amy Abernethy.
“I needed a partner to make it legit,” he said.
“I was ready for a change,” Abernethy said of the decision to leave her position as VIP supervisor and jump into the small business world. “Kyle came to me with the idea of going full time with this.”
Of the risk involved, Jordan simply said, “I knew once we got it out there, it would catch on.”
Now just four months later, the two said it’s already grown dramatically — largely through networking with former resort industry contacts and local businesses.
“That word of mouth really is effective for us,” Abernethy said. “Getting out there on the pavement works.”
“It’s non-stop. Every day gets bigger,” Jordan added.
Through their website, customers can order any grocery items they want down to the last detail. They’ll do everything from dog food to liquor, Jordan said, and all-organic requests. Clients can also specify a grocery store.
“We’ll do anything that will fit into a small SUV,” Jordan joked. “You can be as specific as you want.”
That can include multiple stops, like a trip to the pet store for specialty dog food.
Explaining their success so far, Jordan said, “It’s a unique business. We’re the only ones doing it.”
While in other larger cities some grocery stores offer similar services, no one on the South Shore currently offers a comparable option.
According to Jordan and Abernethy, employees at Safeway — which offers the delivery service elsewhere — have recommended them when customers inquire.
So far, their clientele has been everyone from destination resort visitors to locals holed up at home with an injury and the elderly.
Simply not wanting to drive to the store is enough of a reason, Abernethy said.
Services include on-site delivery while customers are out skiing, as long as the residence has a property manager or security that can be present upon delivery.
While it’s currently just Abernethy, Jordan and Jordan’s wife, Sarah, Kyle Jordan said they may soon be big enough to expand.
Express Lane Delivery charges $20 for any order of a $100 or less and 20 percent of the grocery total for any order over $100.
Jordan said typically customers don’t specify what their total cost expectation may be and he’s had already had grocery orders over $1,200.
More information is available online at http://www.expresslanedelivery.com.
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Lockdown is Lifting!
Finally, the information we've been waiting for from the government! Restaurants will now be allowed to open from July 4th and we couldn't be happier to now have an official date to work with. We've been incredibly busy getting the restaurant ready but there's still a surprising amount to get done. Although this announcement is incredibly welcome throughout the hospitality industry, it leaves us all with little time to be fully prepared and ready to open on July 4th. Whilst we continue with our finishing touches and preparations for opening, we will be closely monitoring the government guidelines on measures we should implement in order to ensure a safe environment for our customers and staff.
During the lockdown we have been using our time to create a Kitchen Garden which has young berry bushes, kale, broccoli and squash. We also have a polytunnel with tomatoes, carrots, herbs, chard, beetroot and peas. It took some time to prepare the area but it's coming along nicely with the young plants growing more everyday and the vision of a garden full of fruit and veg is slowly becoming a reality. Below is a photo of the area once it had been cleared and the area for the fruit bushes has been marked out with the polytunnel up and ready for plants. Once the plants have established, and some of them have seen their first year, we will be able to pick some of our own fruit and veg to put on our menus. The good life, here we come!


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Is Microsoft's Future in Motion?
March 25, 2010
By Stefanie Fogel
Expanding its first-party portfolio, Microsoft is gearing up for big changes
2009 was a bittersweet year for the video game industry. Thought by many to be recession-proof, especially after a record-breaking 2008 holiday season, it recorded its best month ever in December and racked up $5.53 billion in sales. Historically, escapist forms of entertainment have done well in tougher economic times, as people seek ways to forget about their troubles. However, overall sales for the year fell eight percent. Thousands of people were laid off as companies such as EA, Sega and THQ looked for ways to cut back, and many game studios - like Swedish company GRIN - closed their doors for good.
Even corporate giant Microsoft was staggered by the economic sucker punch. In January 2009, the company announced it was cutting 5,000 jobs over 18 months throughout a variety of departments, including R&D, marketing, finance, HR, legal, sales, and IT. It shuttered two of its studios: ACES Game Studio (Microsoft Flight Simulator) and Ensemble Studios (Halo Wars, Age of Empires series) as its shares fell to an 11-year low.
However, although the giant might be down, it's certainly not out. Microsoft-owned Rare announced last month that it will open a new facility in April inside Fazeley Studios that will be home to about 90 staff members. Located in Digbeth, Birmingham, the new studio will be a production, test and usability site that Rare hopes will help change the current model of games development working practices.
Instead of the old boom-and-bust model, the developer wants to adopt a film production model, believing it to be a far better and more efficient way of creating AAA titles. "The old way of making games just doesn’t work anymore," says studio head Mark Betteridge. "We need to be much more flexible in how we staff a team and setting up the new facility in Digbeth will help us to do this."
Lucan Gray, Fazeley Studios founder, adds, "I am delighted that Rare has chosen Fazeley Studios for its second base. The fact that a Microsoft Games Studio is coming to Digbeth shows how things have moved on in the area in the last couple of years, in spite of the challenging economic background."
Rare isn't the only Microsoft developer showing signs of life, and the reason behind much of the recent activity among the company's game studios can be summed up in two words: Project Natal.
Lionhead Studios boss Peter Molyneux has been championing the motion-control technology for the last year, saying that it has the potential to be as revolutionary as the PC mouse.
"The mouse was the real revolution of the PC — not the Intel processor," Molyneux said in an interview with Gamereactor International, "and who's to say Natal couldn't end up creating something you and I can't even imagine now. It forces us to approach technology in a completely different way. Before the mouse, we only had the keyboard."
Lionhead has experimented with Natal support for Fable III and is hard at work on Milo and Kate, as well as a third, currently unannounced game, and it isn't the only Microsoft studio working on Natal projects.
Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 is also interested in adding Natal support to its future games, leading many to speculate on whether or not the studio has a motion-controlled racing game in the works. The mysterious SpawnPoint Studios is also hiring for a Project Natal launch title, while 343 Industries is hiring a number of positions to help create "a new experience in the Halo universe." Although Bungie has flatly denied the rumor that Natal will be integrated into their upcoming Halo: Reach title, saying it will be done only when it "makes sense," the idea that it could wind up in a future Halo game isn't so far-fetched.
With Sony's recent announcement of the Playstation Move, the motion-control arms race is on. The buzz surrounding this new technology is good, and with Microsoft promising to bring the full lineup of Natal titles to E3, we'll soon get a chance to see just how much of a game changer it really is. With games such as Rock Band and Wii Fit generating half the revenue they did last year, according to NPD, can motion-control technology revive interest in casual gaming, and sales along with it? We'll find out this holiday season.


text: The withdrawal of the petition was based purely on economic considerations following an increase in raw material costs, according to Mika Koivistoinen, a spokesman for Danisco Sweeteners. He said that alitame is safe to use, with approval in countries including Australia, New Zealand, China, but Danisco has stopped production and sold all the alitame it produced. The low-calorie sweetener, which is also known as Aclame, is said to have an extremely sugar-like taste without any bitterness and is "ideal for use in beverages" as well as baked goods, dairy products and other confectionary. Koivistoinen told FoodNavigator-usa.com: "Alitame is a very good tasting product and is approved in a number of countries. However, high raw material costs have made production uneconomical. "Due to these economic reason, we have decided not to take our FDA petition further. "We do not have at this time plans to move forward with alitame." Koivistoinen declined to comment on what the problematic raw materials were. A Food Additive Petition was submitted to the FDA in 1986 by Pfizer Central Research, proposing that the food additive regulations be amended to provide for the safe use of alitame as a sweetening agent or flavoring in food. The sweetener is now exclusive to Danisco. The petition was pending but it has now been withdrawn by Danisco "without prejudice to a future filing", according to an FDA notice. A spokesperson for the FDA would not comment on the withdrawal but told FoodNavigator-usa.com: "The fact that there is no approval for alitame in the US does mean it is unlawful to use it in food." Counting costs Other sweeteners have also ceased because of costs. In 2006 Arla Foods halted production of the sweetener tagatose, a low-calorie, low-GI sugar replacer, saying it was not possible to identify a volume potential to justify continued investments. Nutrilab, a subsidiary of Belgian company Damhert, stepped in and bought all Arla's remaining supply. Then, once the European patent on the tagatose molecule expired in August 2007, it started producing its own tagatose using an enzymatic process and the raw material galactose, a waste product from a biofuels manufacturing group. Nutrilab expects to have a full-scale industrial plant producing some 10,000 tonnes a year in operation by September 2009. Christian Vastenavond, director of R&D and international operations told FoodNavigator.com in March that Arla's chemical process was very expensive, creating considerable waste and requiring a lot of cleaning. However, the enzymatic process is said to cost a fraction of Arla's. A recent report by Freedonia revealed that the US sweetener market alone is poised to increase 4 percent per year at present, to reach over $1bn in 2010.


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BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Service celebrated its eighth birthday in 2014, a ripe age in the public cloud storage world. AWS is still considered the leader among public cloud players based on innovation and price, although it is feeling the heat from competitors such as Microsoft Azure.
"[Amazon Web Services] AWS has the most comprehensive array of services for large customer Web services," said Andres Rodriguez, CEO and founder of Amazon partner Nasuni. "They are the only player that has a specific protocol to deploy a large, complex cloud. They offer the best and richest functionality that can be customized. When we had to deploy a global file system [for Nasuni's cloud NAS services], we leaned heavily on Amazon."
Amazon added storage features at its AWS re:Invent conference in November. They include support for larger and faster volumes on its Elastic Block Store (EBS). The enhancements center on solid-state drive (SSD)-backed EBS, which was launched back in June in all AWS regions. Amazon calls SSD EBS the fastest-adopted service in its Amazon Web Services portfolio.
The expansion means customers will be able to create volumes via general-purpose SSDs that store up to 16 TB and provide up to 10,000 baseline IOPS compared to the previous 1 TB and 3,000 baseline IOPS. Its Provisioned IOPS SSD allows volumes to store up to 16 TB and provide up to 20,000 Provisioned IOPS, up from 1 TB and 4,000 Provisioned IOPS. Newly created volumes will be able to transfer a maximum throughput of 160 MB per second (MBps) for general-purpose SSD and 320 MBps for Provisioned IOPS SSD.
"With more room to store data and the ability to get to it even more rapidly, you can now run demanding large-scale workloads without having to stripe multiple volumes together or do a complex dance when it comes time to create and coordinate snapshots," Jeff Barr, chief evangelist at Amazon Web Services, wrote in a November blog post.
Upgrades to Glacier enhance archival cloud storage
Amazon in December added features for Amazon Glacier, its low-cost cold data storage service. Infrequently accessed data in Glacier can be accessed for 1 cent per gigabyte per month. Amazon has new data retrieval policies that can help manage data retrieval costs. It also added audit logging for Glacier with AWS CloudTrail.
Glacier allows users to retrieve up to 5% of their monthly storage, and now users have three options: Free Tier Only, Max Retrieval Rate and No Limit Retrieval.
Free Tier Only allows users to retrieve up to 5% of stored data per month on a pro-rated basis, with no retrievals accepted above that allowance.
The Max Retrieval Rate option allows users to "cap the retrieval rate by specifying a gigabyte per hour limit in the AWS management console. With this setting, retrieval requests that would exceed the specified rate will not be accepted to ensure a data retrieval cost ceiling," according to Amazon's website. Customers select the amount of GB per hour they would like to retrieve in the Glazier Console, and Amazon calculates an estimated monthly cost.
If a customer chooses No Retrieval Limit, Amazon will accept all data retrieval requests. Cost will vary based on usage.
Amazon adds partnerships in 2014
Amazon also continues to add support for third-party storage vendors. In November, it announced support for backup applications Veeam and Microsoft, and updated versions from Symantec. Those backup applications can be used with a Storage Gateway Virtual Tape Library to Amazon S3 and Glacier storage. Plus, the company announced general availability of Amazon Zocalo, its document storage and sharing for the enterprise service.
Whether or not Amazon will hold on to its lead in the cloud space still is a matter of speculation. While Google has to be taken seriously as a cloud competitor, most industry experts see Azure as Amazon's main rival now.
Lydia Leong, research vice president at Gartner's technology and service providers group, said it's not unusual for customers to choose AWS over Azure as the primary provider because AWS has a better feature set and a more mature and better ecosystem.
"Of course, many existing AWS customers are also adding Azure as a secondary provider," Leong said. "But it may well be that Microsoft's serious entry into this market has actually helped AWS in terms of absolute usage gains, more than hurt it. Overtime, Microsoft's share gains will come at AWS' expense."
Top news from AWS re:Invent 2014
Comparing Amazon and Microsoft cloud offerings


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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday made three proposals at the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services via video.
Firstly, all countries should jointly foster an open and inclusive environment for cooperation, Xi said.
China will stay committed to further opening up, with measures including the establishment of a sound negative list management system in cross-border service trade, and the advancement of constructing open platforms for piloting innovative development of trade in services, Xi said.
The country will also continue to ease market access in the service sector and actively expand imports of quality services, he said.
Secondly, all countries should work together to invigorate momentum for cooperation driven by innovation.
China will work with all countries in enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights and actively promote the development of digital economy and sharing economy, Xi said.
Thirdly, Xi called for joint efforts to break new ground in win-win cooperation.
All countries should strengthen coordination in their development of trade in services, innovate the ways of cooperation, deepen the areas of cooperation and seek to maximize common interests in development.


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Each month we post a poll asking questions about a particular financial topic. For the month of April, we wanted to find out which presidential candidate consumers feel would be best for the US Economy. 38% percent of respondents said Donald Trump will be most effective in creating jobs, followed by Hillary Clinton (27%) and Bernie Sanders (20%). Although most of the respondents believe that Trump will be the best candidate for the U.S. economy (34%), they are also most concerned about his particular economic policies (42%). See some more interesting findings in this month’s infographic.
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